This is a list of lieutenant generals in the United States Army from 1990 to 1999. The rank of lieutenant general (or three-star general) is the second-highest rank normally achievable in the U.S. Army, and the first to have a specified number of appointments set by statute. It ranks above major general (two-star general) and below general (four-star general).
There have been 146 lieutenant generals in the United States Army from 1990 to 1999, 28 of whom were promoted to four-star general. All 146 achieved that rank while on active duty in the U.S. Army. Lieutenant generals entered the Army via several paths: 67 were commissioned via Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) at a civilian university, 42 via the U.S. Military Academy (USMA), 19 via Officer Candidate School (OCS), 15 via ROTC at a senior military college, two via direct commission (direct), and one via the U.S. Naval Academy (USNA).
List of generals
Entries in the following list of lieutenant generals are indexed by the numerical order in which each officer was promoted to that rank while on active duty, or by an asterisk (*) if the officer did not serve in that rank while on active duty in the U.S. Army or was promoted to four-star rank while on active duty in the U.S. Army. Each entry lists the general's name, date of rank, active-duty positions held while serving at three-star rank, number of years of active-duty service at three-star rank (Yrs), year commissioned and source of commission, number of years in commission when promoted to three-star rank (YC), and other biographical notes.
Timeline
1990–1999
History
Quasi-War
The rank of lieutenant general in the United States Army was established in 1798 when President John Adams commissioned George Washington in that grade to command the armies of the United States during the Quasi-War with France. The next year, Congress replaced the office of lieutenant general with that of General of the Armies of the United States but Washington died before accepting the new commission, remaining a lieutenant general until posthumously promoted to General of the Armies in 1976.
Mexican War
In 1855 Congress rewarded the Mexican War service of Major General Winfield Scott by authorizing his promotion to brevet lieutenant general, to rank from March 29, 1847, the date of the Mexican surrender at the Siege of Veracruz. As a lieutenant general only by brevet, Scott remained in the permanent grade of major general but was entitled to be paid as a lieutenant general from the date of his brevet commission, resulting in a public tussle with Secretary of War Jefferson Davis over the amount of backpay Scott was owed. Congress resolved all issues in Scott's favor once Davis left office in 1857, and allowed Scott to retire at full pay in 1861.
Civil War
The grade of lieutenant general was revived in February 1864 to allow President Abraham Lincoln to promote Major General Ulysses S. Grant to command the armies of the United States during the American Civil War. After the war, Grant was promoted to general and his vacant lieutenant general grade was filled by Major General William T. Sherman. When Grant became President in 1869, Sherman succeeded him as general and Major General Philip H. Sheridan succeeded Sherman as lieutenant general. Congress suspended further promotions to general and lieutenant general in 1870, but made an exception in 1888 to promote Sheridan on his deathbed by discontinuing the grade of lieutenant general and merging it with the grade of general.